//------------------------------//
// Chapter 9: Looming danger 
// Story: Death, Sacrifice, and the man in blue 
// by MrTyrannousaurusX 
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Alan slowly opened his eyes groggily, wincing as he put his hand above his eyes to block out the intrusive light invading his retinas. His eyes eventually got used to the bright white light and his hand fell on his stomach limply, staring up at the ceiling tired and extremely groggy. Alan immediately was confused at the sight, the last thing he remembered was a unicorn running up to him before he passed out in the street of whatever kingdom or place he was at.

With effort, Alan lifted both of his hands to his face and attempted to rub the sleepiness out of his eyes, only to find his hand was expertly bandaged with what looked like a hospital gauze. This confused him even more as he cocked his head at his hand as he studied it, turning his hand around to examine every angle, amazed at how good the bandage looked and felt. 

He felt like he was hit by a truck as he sat up in the bathtub he was laying in, tightening his grip on the side of the tub as he felt a sharp pain in his head the second his body was raised up. Alan popped his neck and looked to his right at the toilet that was right beside him, his eyes widening in disbelief and his heart almost jumping out of his chest as he saw what was on top of the toilet lid.

A tall glass of water sat on the lid, the water reflected his tired and exhausted image as he gazed upon the cup like it was a delicacy. In an instant, he reached over and swiped the cup of the lid aggressively causing some water to splash onto the tiled floor in front of the toilet.

He practically shoved the rim in his mouth as he began slugging the water aggressively, the cool liquid giving his throat the refreshment it deserved. As some of the liquid ran down the corners of his mouth and dripped off of his chin, Alan brought the cup back to the lid and placed it on top of it. He gazed at the empty cup for a few seconds as his throat finally went back to normal with his pain finally subsiding, he silently thanked whoever or whatever gave him the cup as he stood up from the bathtub. 

He stepped over the edge of the tub and walked over to the towel rack by the door, pulling his tattered and dirty hoodie off of it and slipping it over his head, pushing his arms through the beat up sleeves. He turned and looked at himself in the mirror and furrowed his eyebrows at the man he saw, his hoodie was extremely dirty and covered in large dirt stains and his hair was visibly greasy and way messier than it usually was. He could barely recognize the person he was looking at, it was like he was starting to become one with the forest and if Levi didn’t come to him in that dream, he probably would’ve. 

Alan turned his head from it and twisted the doorknob and opened up the bathroom door, being greeted by a wall directly in front of him and a door a little bit down that same wall. He fully stepped out onto the brown carpeted hallway as he closed the door gently behind him, turning his head to his right and looking out of the window at the end of the hallway and noticing how dark was outside. 

“What the hell..” He whispered to himself after taking the ability to speak without pain for granted, “How long was I out for?” he questioned half confused and half concerned as he looked down at his watch. The hands behind the glass read 5:34 AM, much to the astonishment and disbelief of the raven haired man. 

“What the hell..how” He whispered to himself once again, not truly believing he was experiencing reality and he was simply in a dream from when was knocked out much earlier in the day. Another possibility that crossed his mind is that he may be in purgatory and his lack of food and water and cut hand attributed to his death, he brushed off the thought as he pinched himself hard in the wrist.

Surprisingly, nothing happened. After he confirmed he was indeed awake and alive, Alan decided to let his hand fall down to his side as he surveyed the hallway he was in. The walls were painted a slightly darker shade of lime green which complimented the brown carpet nicely, a few framed photos that hung on the wall caught Alan’s attention. He looked curiously at one of the photos hung on the wall in front of him, he walked over to the picture and gingerly wrapped both sets of his fingers around the corners of the black wooden frame and pulling it closer to his face.

In the picture was a picture of a familiar light blue unicorn with a blue mane standing proudly in front of a large brick building. She had on a traditional black graduation outfit with the graduate cap hanging loosely on her head as it drooped down the back of her head in between her ears. She had a huge friendly smile as she looked directly into the camera with hazel eyes, two similarly colored unicorns stood next to her with their arms wrapped around each other. He assumed the unicorn with a mustache and a proper looking suit on her right was her father and the older looking pony on her left was her mother. But one question still lingered in his mind as he studied the picture, who was the unicorn in the picture?

He kept staring intently at the unicorn in the picture as he racked his brain for the answer he needed, and then suddenly, it came back to him. The unicorn who ran at him as he was falling, the one who called out to him as he hit the ground, everything began to make sense now. She was the one who gave him the water and the hospitality, he was inside the house of a unicorn. 

Alan internally snickered at how ridiculous it sounded, him staying in the house of a unicorn, none of it made sense but whether he liked it or not it was his reality. He let go of the frame causing it to lightly hit the hall and make a sound louder than he anticipated, he clenched his jaw and winced from the unexpected loud sound and hurriedly moved over to the next picture he wanted to analyze.

Alan brought the frame closer to his face just like he did with the last one and read at the top in bold blue letters ‘Canterlot University’, he did a double take to make sure he was reading it correctly from how unusual it sounded but moved on and continued reading. ‘This award is presented to Violet Heart as a graduating Health Major’ 

“Violet Heart huh?” At the bottom left was the date she graduated, October 12, 2013, and a signature at the bottom right. Written professionally in black at the bottom right was ‘Princess Celestia’. Just as Alan was about to imagine the power dynamic in this world worked, his stomach suddenly growled out of nowhere, with Alan realizing that he hasn’t eaten in hours since he passed out. 

He let go of the frame and walked towards the stairs that spiraled down to the first floor, his stomach growling impatiently barely halfway down the stairs. As he neared the bottom of the stairs, the delightful scent of a pumpkin smelling candle filled his nostrils as he made his way down closer and closer to the first floor. 

When Alan stepped down third to last step, he could finally get a good look at the first floor and the rest of the house and possibly even the unicorn herself. His heart slammed in his chest as he peered his head from behind the wall which blocked his view and was greeted by a couch and a large coffee table in the first room and a big reclining chair next to the couch, right next to an open window. The kitchen was right next to the living room, the only things separating the two was the black and white tile floor and a half wall. 

However the main thing that caught Alan’s attention was the unicorn that sat in the reclining chair with an open book in her lap, a candle sat on the small table right beside the reclining chair, burning and filling the room with the delightful smell of pumpkins. The smell brough Alan back to his childhood, where he would pick pumpkins in the field with his family and sometimes Levi, this made him miss his friend even more. He pushed the thoughts away and decided to focus on the pony in front of her, the one who in a way saved his life.

The unicorn’s eyes went back and forth across the page left and right as she read, too engaged to notice the tattered looking man looking at her from her own staircase. It felt like hours had passed since he started standing there staring at the light blue pony, too nervous to take another step down the stairs and greet the unicorn. He had every right to be nervous, after all the last interaction he had with anyone in this new world was a wolf made of wood trying to kill him. For all he knew this unicorn’s kindness could only be a mask to hide her true nature. After all, who sits on a chair in the dead of night and reads next to a candle, the more and more he thought about it the more his brain tried to convince him she was bad news.

It was only after she turned the page and her attention broke from her book for a second that she finally noticed Alan. Her horn glowed a brilliant blue color as she lifted a bookmark from the first page of the book and slid into place in between the pages, closing the book and simultaneously placing it gently onto the small table beside her.

Her horn glowed again as she turned the handle on the side of her chair and reclined it back to normal. The same friendly smile she showed in her graduation photo appeared on her face as she hopped up from the chair and made her way towards him. 

“You’re finally up!” She said like she was talking to just another one of her friends and not a complete stranger. “Are you feeling alright? Any aches? Pains?” She questioned, her tone completely shifting to a more concerned one.

“I’m..fine..thanks for asking” Alan answered, taken aback by her hospitality and friendliness towards him considering he was just some man that just woke up from her bathtub. 

“That’s great,” She responded relieved, “You want some coffee?” All of Alan’s worries melted away at this question, realizing there was nothing about this pony to be scared off at all. His face softened and his voice changed to one similar to hers as he fully stepped down her stairs and into the peaceful atmosphere of her living room.

“Absolutely!” He responded thankfully, extending his hand towards the unicorn, “We haven’t met yet, I’m Alan”

Her smile widened as she looked up at him and took his hand in her hoof and shook it, saying “Violet Heart”. She released his hand and turned around halfway and beckoning him with “Kitchen’s right here”

The two walked to the kitchen with Alan being greeted by a new yet still pleasant smell in the kitchen, the scent of lemon scented cleaning supplies filled his nose but he weirdly found it delightful. His attention was directed by the large brown table that oddly enough only had two chairs with one at each end despite its size.

Alan took his seat at the head of the table as he watched the light blue unicorn pull two coffee cups out of the top drawer and poured the steaming hot coffee into each of them. “How do you like yours?” She asked without turning around.

“Black” 

“Great minds think alike” She commented, turning around with the cups levitating in the air with a blue aura surrounding them. One cup carefully moved through the air and landed right in front of him on the table and the other at her end of the table as she took her seat. 

Alan looked down at the cup and watched as steam rose into the air and vanished into the air like it was never there. After a few moments, he folded his hands on the table in front of the cup and made eye contact with the unicorn at the other end of the table. He thought that, considering he was probably gonna be living with her for a while, he wanted to get to know her before he started to settle into her home.

Alan rubbed his hands together before breaking the silence and asking “So…whaddya do for a living? I saw your degree up there” he motioned his head towards the stairs as he finished. 

“I’m a nurse,” She answered with a hint of pride hidden in her voice, “Been one for about..” she paused in thought as she put her hoof up to her chin and looked up, “Nine years”

“Nine years? Jeez..” Alan responded.

“What do you do? You seem like a blue collar kinda guy” 

“I was a car salesman for a few years before they fired me..sons of bitches” He replied, remarking coldly at the end as his eyebrows knitted in frustration at the memory, seeing two men in suits tell him his ‘services were no longer required’. His grip tightened on the cup handle as he looked back up at the unicorn, a confused expression painted on her face.

“What’s a car?” Alan had forgotten that he wasn’t talking to just another person, but a pony, and he realized there was a pretty good chance they didn’t have cars. “Somethin’ you drive, I’m guessing you don’t have any?” 

Violet shook her head as she took a swig of her steaming coffee, the coal-black liquid warming her mouth as the bitterness of the drink made her taste buds want to recoil. “Usually, at least here in the Empire, we either walk or we take a horse and buggy”

Alan lifted his hands a few inches above the table and piped up “Woah woah woah, Empire?”

“Oh yeah, you’re not from here,” She paused to take another swig before she continued “Right now we’re in the Crystal Empire and the forest you ran from is the Everfree Forest. It’s infamous” 

“The more you know…can I ask you a question?”

“Sure”

“Have there been any reports of any other human being in the Empire? Or in this…world I guess I should say” Alan asked, internally hoping and praying she would say yes and give him confirmation Levi was at least alive. No matter what her answer was gonna be, he could feel in his heart that Levi was still out there alive and kicking. He knew the man too well for him to just roll over at something like this, he knew he was stronger than that.

“Not that I know of” Alan felt disappointment hit him like a truck as he did all he could to hide it, not wanting to ruin the mood at the table. However him slightly slouching back in his seat and his eyes falling down to the table, Violet could tell what she had just said upset him. 

“Why do you ask?” She asked as curiosity grew inside of her like a sprouting plant, curious to find out the reason behind Alan’s sudden change in mood.

Alan sighed before he readjusted his posture and sat up with his back straight and his hands caressing the cup slowly, but his eyes still not meeting hers and instead looking into the dark liquid in his cup. Alan saw his sullen face reflect back at him from the rippling and shaking liquid in the cup before deciding to give the curious unicorn an answer, looking up at her hazel eyes with his gloomy ones. 

“He’s my brother..kind of” He answered, his eyes immediately falling to the center of the table as he raised the cup to his lips. The small trails of smoke still coming from the cup warmed up the tip of his nose as he took a big swig from it, the bitterness and lack of sweetness matching his feelings in that moment. 

Violet looked at him sympathetically, but the curiosity inside of her became evident in her voice as she asked “What do you mean ‘kind of’?”

“He’s my best friend..” He replied, his finger slowly going in circles on the rim of the cup, “I’ve known him for years, we’ve been through a lot together”

“How did he get here? Better question, how did both of you get here?” 

He paused for a few seconds and stared into the cup, seeing his guilty face look back at him like the bitter drink was trying to taunt him. He looked up from the cup and made eye contact once more before he replied “It was my fault…”

“How?”

“We were-” He suddenly stopped, quickly thinking in his head if he should lie about what he was doing or tell her the truth about his immoral side hustle, “We were…cooking..with chemicals..” 

The lie he spoke sounded way more ridiculous than what it sounded like in his head, but he hoped that the curious pony across from him wouldn’t catch on to what he was lying about. He saw her mouth open as she was about to speak and, wanting to avoid going into the topic, cut her off befores she had the chance to ask another one of her questions by saying “I don’t know what happened right before the explosion, it’s all just a blur, but what I do remember is is me falling into the woods.”

This gave Violet more questions than answers, what was he doing that teleported him here? Why was he doing it? How did he survive in that forest? Her mind quickly became a hurricane of questions, thoughts, and assumptions about the raven haired man across from her. She took a sip of her coffee as if it would calme her mind, it did no such thing. 

“What were you doing exactly?” She asked one of the many questions she had, the question Alan was dreading.

He took a long pause with the sound of the clock ticking rhythmically being the only sound to be heard, Violet began to feel nervous as the seconds passed with no answer, fearing she had upset the man as he once again looked into his cup.

“...I was cooking meth..drugs..” He finally answered after what felt like hours, “I don’t know if you know what that is or not but-” “It doesn’t exist here” She interrupted, hoping this would make the guilty looking Alan feel better.

Alan looked at her in disbelief, “Really?”

“Yes..you’re making it seem like it’s a really bad thing which I wouldn’t doubt if it brought you to a whole other dimension practically” She explained.

“It is bad..very bad,” He emphasized, “But that’s besides the point” He waved his hand dismissively at Violet.

“The point is..I can’t even remember why I wanted to cook so bad that day” He admitted, “I mean I practically fought him to be able to cook it and…I don’t even know why” He put his elbows on the table and rubbed his eyes with his fingers, his face twisting in frustration.

The unicorn took a sip of her drink before she replied “It’s not like you wanted to send you and him here right? It was an accid-” “Don’t tell me that” Alan interrupted sharply.

“It wasn’t! I know that but..I just hope he’s okay” He said, making brief eye contact with her before rubbing them once again. Violet stood up from her seat as her chair scraped loudly against the tiled floor and walked over to Alan’s side and placed a supportive hoof on his shoulder. Alan was surprised by the sudden touch but more surprised by the stark contrast it had from the feeling of a hand he’s been used to all his life.

Alan put his bandaged hand back onto the table before looking into the unicorn's gentle hazel eyes, his eyes being a little red from the constant rubbing. A smile formed on his no longer sullen face before he thanked her, but then asking after “Can you do something for me? It’s kind of important”

“Yeah, what is it?”

“After I’m done getting situated here or whatever…can we go look for him?” The question caught Violet off guard as her eyes widened and she placed her hoof back on the ground. 

“I-uh..Equestria’s a huge place Alan, I don’t think you understand how big what you’re asking is” She responded.

“Equestria?” Violet internally facepalmed at herself for forgetting she was talking to a human, “It’s the world we’re in, It’s called Equestria. It’s made up of a lot of places” She emphasized.

“Yeah it’s a big place but it’s not impossible, right?” Alan asked.

“It’s possible, but Celestia knows how long it will take” Violet replied with a sigh, feeling sympathetic towards the raven haired man as he looked down at the table with gloom overtaking his face at the news.

“I think our best bet is to just wait until a report of a human being somewhere in Equestria is made public, after all nopony’s seen one in years” She suggested. 

“How long do you think that’ll take?” He asked, hopeful the answer won’t be a drastic amount of time.

“Probably a few days, maybe even today for all we know” Alan’s heart jumped at her response as a grin spread across his face as he looked back up at her. 

“Promise me we’ll find him Violet” 

She smiled at the cheered up man before she put her hoof to her chest and replied “Hoof to heart”

Alan raised an eyebrow at her gesture with a puzzled look in his eye, “Whatever that means” he joked. Violet giggle in response as Alan looked down into his cup for what seemed like the hundredth time, but this time the man staring back at him was not the sad sack who lost his best friend. It was the eager and confident man who was going to find Levi. He smiled down at his reflection before taking a well deserved swig and saying in his head ‘I’ll bring you home Levi..I promise.’

‘I’m comin’ brother’

Levi and the mane 6 stood in front of the mouth of the Everfree forest as the darkness inside seemed to stare back at them as they looked at it with fear, all of them except for Levi. His bold, confident appearance was a far cry from the scared and nervous faces on the ponies standing next to him. Crickets chirped loudly all around them as the chilly night air caused goosebumps to rise on Levi’s exposed forearms. He stood tall before the maw of the dreadful everfree forest, the trees were separated from each other and a dirt path led from where they stood to the darkness of the woods.

Suddenly, like a white dove in the night sky, a voice cut through the air and exclaimed “Weee! Let’s go!” to no one's surprise, it was none other than Pinkie Pie. Her shrill voice caught Levi and Twilight off guard while the rest of the ponies looked at her like it was no big deal, Levi couldn’t believe who upbeat she was acting despite the harrowing place they were willingly walking into. 

“Wait,” Twilight suddenly interjected, causing the pink pony to stop in her tracks and look over at her, “I really appreciate the offer, but I’d really rather do this on my own” she continued as her eyes looked nervously at the dark path ahead of her.

“No can do sugarcube!” Applejack replied almost immediately, walking up to Twilight so they were parallel to each other. “We ain’t lettin’ no friend of ours go in there alone” The word friend seemed to visibly affect Twilight, as her face twisted in disgust at the word like it was poison. 

Before Twilight could protest, the blonde pony and the three other ponies trotted bravely towards the entrance of the forest without a care in the world. “We’re stickin’ to you like caramel to a candy apple!” Applejack added as her, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Rarity trotted closely behind her. 

Pinkie’s head perked up at the mention of the sweet treat before rearing and exclaiming “Especially if there’s candy apples in there!”. She turned her head around to face Twilight and Levi who awkwardly stood there and looked at the vibrant pony. “What? Those things are good!” She added as she began to trot into the forest fearlessly to catch up with the rest of the ponies.

Twilight looked at the dark and frightening jaws of the entrance, the two walls of sickly green colored trees that winded and spiraled like twisted roots erupting from the ground. The echoing cry of an owl rang through the air as Twilight looked at the woods with a look of nervousness displayed on her face, the thought of the fate of Ponyville and possibly all of Equestria resting in her hooves put a load of pressure on her shoulders. 

Levi could tell how worried she was and reached down and pat her back before reassuring “It’ll be fine Twi, I promise” 

She looked up at him, purple met green, as she smiled at his reassurance. The two began to hurriedly make their way into the woods to catch up with the group, with one prancing and one jogging as Levi’s heart slammed in his chest as his bold exterior began to crumble the moment he stepped foot on the dark path. His heart slammed in his chest and the sound of his frightened heartbeat managed to drown out the chirping of crickets all around him. 

“So you all have never been here before?” Twilight asked in a nervous voice as they walked in a single file line on the now green path they were taking. Levi opted to be in the front of the line and lead the line, trying to keep whatever fragments of his brave appearance alive but not just for them, for himself too.

After they followed the dark dirt path for a few minutes, they began to walk up on what looked like a winding trail up what looked like a cliff side. Levi glanced out at the view from as high up as they were and, despite how harrowing the forest seemed, looked stunning combined with the light from the moon and stars shining down onto the dark green dank tree tops. The chilly night air continued to hit them and got a little bit colder the higher they went up, much to the annoyance of Levi.

“Oh heavens no!” Rarity replied dramatically, “Just look at it! It’s dreadful!” She finished. 

“It just ain’t natural, folks say it don’t work the same as Equestria” Applejack added as she turned her head to face the ponies behind her.

“What does that mean?” Twilight asked, growing more and more nervous the more they added onto the conversation.

“Noooopony knows” Rainbow Dash suddenly chimed, making her voice shake and quiver in an attempt to scare the group for her own amusement. Much to Levi’s annoyance, it worked as Rarity, Fluttersy, and Pinkie Pie stopped dead in their tracks as Rainbow continued.

“You know why?” She taunted, her body low to the ground like a wolf ready to pounce as she slowly moved towards the frightened trio moving one suspenseful hoof at a time.

“Rainbow quit it!” Applejack scolded, rolling her eyes at the cyan pegasus as she continued to try and scare the ponies, completely ignoring her.

“‘Cause everypony who’s ever come in..never..comes..” She moved closer and closer until she was just inches in front of the ponies' terrified faces, their heads recoiling from the rainbow haired pegasus as she looked at them with a playful grin. 

“OUT!” She exclaimed after a short pause, jumping in the air and moving an inch closer to the three faces as they jumped back a bit in surprise.

Suddenly, the group heard a cracking sound and felt a small rumble beneath their feet. Levi glanced under them and saw the dark dirt wall that was directly underneath them, the cracking cliff side being the only protection from the deathly slide beneath them.

CRACK!

Levi’s blood turned to ice and his heart sank to the pit of his stomach as a much louder crack filled the air. A visible split in the ground formed a large ring around the group that created a border between them and the path that led forwards and backwards. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy leaped into the air and there wings flared as they began to hover and watched in panic and shock as the ground beneath there friends completely shattered into millions of pieces and sent them all falling down onto the dirt slide. 

Screams of terror ripped through the air as Rainbow's jaw almost hit the floor and her eyes became as wide as dinner plates. She saw a blue sparkling mass fly away from the freshly destroyed ground. Fluttershy shrieked as her friends began to slide down as dread filled her heart.

“Fluttershy! Quick!” Rainbow ordered loudly, dashing down to save her friends and leaving a small rainbow trail in the air for a few seconds.

“Ohmygoodnessohmygoodnessohmygoodness!” Fluttershy panicked to herself in a hushed tone as she dived down after the speedy pegasus.

“FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK!” Levi screamed hysterically as he rocketed down the hillside, feeling small sharp rocks cut up his back as he slid and tearing small holes in his already battered dress shirt. Levi’s eyes darted around him and watched as his friends all zoomed down the hill at the same speed he was, the same look of shock and horror displayed on their faces, mirroring Levi’s emotions. 

He saw as Rainbow Dash swooped down and grabbed onto Pinkie’s shoulders and hoisted her up into the air with a struggle, her wings beating harder than ever as she struggled with gritted teeth to hold the pink pony in the air. 

Levi looked beside him and saw Rarity with her eyes shut tightly as she slid down the hill, her hooves scraping against the dirt as she tried in vain to stop herself from going any further. He watched as the blonde pony several inches from him bite down onto a root sticking out of the dirt like a long slender finger, stopping herself from sliding as she watched in dread as the rest of her friends passed her in the blink of an eye. 

Fluttershy swooped down and clamped her jaws down on Rarity’s perfectly groomed tail and held her back from sliding any further, leaving only Levi and Twilight continuing to rocket down the hill with no available help that they could see. Levi watched as Twilight slid down all the way until the bottom of the hill, where a cliff side jutted out from the dirt and stared out menacingly into the distance.

Twilight slid all the way as her lower half and her legs slipped over the edge of the sharp dropoff, leaving her to cling to the ground in panic as Levi could only watch helplessly as his friend dangled from the edge. The pebbles and small rocks she disturbed on the way down tumbled down the hill after her and were sent flying off of the edge, plummeting down hundreds of feet to the ground below. Twilight ignorantly turned her head and looked down at the drop off as bullets of sweat formed on her brow in that very moment and her eyes widened in horror at the deathly fall.

Levi’s elbows burned as they dug into the dirt as he slid, the small sharp rocks and pebbles that cut up his back cut his elbows the same. Rainbow watched in horror as Levi slid helplessly down the mountain as she still had Pinkie held in her arms in the air as she watched the harrowing event unfold below her. Her panicked eyes darted to Levi and Pinkie as her mind raced hysterically, scenarios running through her head at what she could possibly do in this scenario.

Levi let out a guttural screaming noise as his feet were inches away from crossing the edge of the cliff and to his death. Rainbow Dash panicked even more as all she could do was sit there and watch in horror and dread as her friend’s feet slipped over the edge with the rest of her body following after. Twilight’s eyes snapped over to the panic stricken man as his body slipped over the edge of the cliff and he began his plummet to the bottom, the sound of his horrified screams echoed through the air as every pony could only spectate what was happening to their friend. 

Tears stung Twilight’s eyes as she could only stare in emotional agony as she watched her friend fall hundreds of feet down, his screaming began more and more frantic and terrified with each foot he descended through the air. “LEVI NO!” The lilac unicorn screamed, her voice managing to be louder than the man’s screams.

Twilight’s eyes shot open wider as her grip on the edge of the cliff began to get weaker and weaker as she used her legs to attempt to climb back up or at the very least find something to put her hooves on. All this did was cause her hooves to slid down the intimidating wall of dirt below her and send small rocks and clumps of dirt rolling down beneath her.

Levi fell through the air as he let out a guttural primal sounding scream of pure and unbridled fear as his head snapped down to look at the large strip of grass that sat under him. His mind raced with thoughts faster than he could even comprehend as he saw the ground rapidly approaching him. He thought about how his parents and his friends would feel, both her and in Tuscaloosa, and about what Alan was gonna go through. He knew for a fact that Alan felt the same worry that Levi did, probably more considering he was one who brought them here in the first place, and how much grief he would be put through knowing his best friend fell to his death. A death that he unwillingly contributed to by sending the duo to Equestria.

All of the sudden, a miracle made its way into Levi’s vision as it jutted out like a sore thumb from the tall wall of dirt and rock. Levi saw a few meters below him sticking out of the wall was a long, twisty slender pale orange root that was perfectly within arms reach of Levi once he got down to its level. His heartbeat quickened even more than it already was and his fear was replaced by hope and relief as he fell down the few more meters he needed to in a matter of moments.

Levi grabbed the root as he body slowed to a complete stop instantaneously, his weight combined with the speed he was going at forcefully tugged the root down, almost completely ripping it out of the wall. The clump of dirt at the bottom of the root was sticking out of its original hole in the wall as the root leaned down against the wall with Levi. Levi’s shaking body rested against the wall of dirt as he clung for dear life on the root, making the grim realization that this root was the last line of defense between him and an inevitable death.

“HELP ME! HELP!” Levi cried out in desperation, “I’M NOT DEAD! RAINBOW DASH, TWILIGHT, ANYBOD-” Levi’s sentence was cut off by the sound of the root ripping more from the wall, causing Levi to slid down the wall about half an inch more. He yelped in fear as the root came more and more out of the wall as he continued to scream and beg for help, praying one of the pegasi would come and save his life before it’s too late.

Applejack looked down as her teeth continued to dig into the root she was clinging to, seeing a helpless and desperate Twilight fighting to stay clinging to the edge of the cliff. Applejack released the root from her jaws, leaving deep bite marks that lined where she held her bite at, and slowly and carefully slid down the hill towards the distressed unicorn. “Settle down, I’m comin’” she announced to the lilac pony as she slid down and stopped right in front of her.

She took her hooves in hers, finally releasing them from the tiring grip on the edge, as she looked into the pony’s terrified eyes as her emerald ones attempted to comfort her. “Applejack! What do I do!” She exclaimed in a panic, bullets of sweat running down her forehead. 

Applejack squinted and looked up in the sky in thought as Twilight looked at her and grew more anxious with each passing moment, hoping the blonde pony would come up with an answer and fast. After a few seconds, she looked directly into Twilight’s eyes and with a straightforward tone, said “Let go”

Twilight looked at her in disbelief, completely baffled by what she had just told her to do, interpreting it as Applejack practically telling her to fall to her death. “Are you crazy!?” She rebutted.

“No I ain’t, ah promise you’ll be safe” She replied with sincerity embedded in her voice.

“That’s not true!” “Now listen here,” She said as she lifted her head up confidently in the air, “What I’m sayin’ to you is the honest truth. Let go and you’ll be safe”

Twilight gazed into her emerald eyes as she said this and noticed how sincere she looked at her. Twilight couldn’t have been more wrong about how she interpreted her words, she truly was being as honest as she could’ve been in that moment. The fear melted away as she continued to gaze into her eyes as her grip on the blonde pony’s hooves loosened and she eventually completely slipped from her grasp, falling to the mercy of gravity as a shrill scream cut through the air.

RIP!

The root ripped from the wall a little bit more, leaving barely any dirt for the wall to hang onto as the man holding onto it slid down about an inch. One inch closer to his demise. A familiar scream of fear filled his ears as he moved his head in worry to see what happened to Twilight, his heart dropped to his stomach and his pupils turned to pinpoints as he saw the unicorn hurdling to her death just above him. “TWILIGHT!” He bellowed, his voice being drowned out by the unicorns screams.

RIP!

The root ripped from the wall even more as the unicorn fell safely into the two pegasi’s arms, opening her eyes and looking around at the friendly faces of the ponies keeping her suspended in the air. Her eyes returned to normal and she let out a much deserved sigh of relief as she began her slow descent back to the ground.

Levi’s panicked scream sliced through the air one last time as the two pegasi whipped their heads around to look at him. The root had finally succumbed to the weight weighing it down and the strand holding it to the wall snapped, leaving Levi at the mercy of gravity once again as he started to fall the same deathly fall he barely escaped from before.

Rainbow’s eyes filled with horror at the sight, “LEVI!” she let go of the lilac ponies arm, the weight the cyan pegasus was holding suddenly dropped as Fluttershy struggled to keep Twilight up.

Time moved in slow motion for the brown haired man as he plummeted to the ground, looking up at the beautiful purple night sky. The stars sparkled exponentially slowly, the shine from the star as it sparkled and flickered lingered in Levi’s eyes for a few seconds as he relished the beauty. Possibly that last beautiful thing he would ever see.

His most precious memories were flashing in front of his eyes all the while. They all flickered in his vision like a slideshow as he reminisced over the experiences he had in his short 25 years. Both happy and bittersweet..small or big..he saw each and every one of them one after another. The cold night air blew into his eyes as he closed his eyes to escape the stinging sensation in his eyes.

In the darkness behind his eyelids, he saw more clearly his happiest memories. He saw himself meeting Alan all those years ago, he saw himself at one of his childhood birthday parties, and he saw himself meeting some of the ponies he met on his journey. Just a few feet away from the ground, he visualized his new friends in the pitch black for the last time. He saw the bright amber eyes of a flame haired pegasus as she amazingly carried him all the way to Canterlot. He saw a lilac unicorn with indigo colored hair looking at him with amazement when he first stepped foot into her house, a decision that ultimately led him here. Right at death’s door.

He kept his eyes closed and felt comforted by the darkness as he willingly accepted his fate. He knew Alan was going to be devastated by the news of his friends passing, he knew how wrecked he would be knowing he wouldn’t have closure, he knew Alan would never be able to apologize for bringing him here in the first place. The only sound to be heard by the brown haired man was the whistling of the air in his ears as he came closer and closer to his death. Out of the blue, a new sound was heard, a sound like a huge lazer charging up and preparing to fire. The electronic sounding noise got louder and louder as it presumably came closer and closer to Levi. Levi peered his eyes open and looked straight down at the ground as the noise sounded like it was inches from him. He was met with the terrifying sight of the flourishing green grass just feet below him, a sight that invokes a positive feeling on any other occasion, but this time the only thing Levi felt was pure unbridled fear. 

Levi realized all too late that he didn’t in fact accept his fate, he wanted to live more than anything in the world at that very moment. ‘It’s too late. It's too late!’ Levi’s panicked thoughts ran out of control in his head. 

‘I”M DEAD!’ He went pale as the grass he was rocketing towards came very clearly into view and he prepared for the end to come.

THUMP!

He felt a force hit him in his stomach and a pair of hooves wrapped around his back as he instantaneously changed directions, the air whistling around him died in that moment and was replaced by the sound of wind rushing by his ears. Levi looked down instinctively to see whatever miracle had come to save him in that moment, and the miracle had cyan wings and a rainbow mane that flapped in the wind like a flag in a thunderstorm.

“Rainbow Dash!” He exclaimed accidentally as his still racing mind caused him to blurt out the first thing he saw. 

Levi almost immediately fell to his knees the second his feet touched the ground, his eyes trained down on the grass as he began to pant and blink away tears from his eyes. His heartbeat refused to slow. His vision spun. Dizziness hit him like a tidal wave. An immense feeling of relief washed over him.

“Darling, are you alright?” Rarity’s concerned voice cut in as she and the rest of the ponies approached him. His stomach did backflips from stress as he dug his fingernails into the grass, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath in order to calm himself down. 

“Y-yeah,” He replied shakily as he carefully stood up, pausing halfway up to steady his wobbling knees. He stood up fully and wiped the dirt from his thighs and knees, despite his best efforts, his jeans were still brown with dirt from the turbulent slide. His back looked as though a wild tiger had clawed it up and down, blue tassels hung lifelessly off of his back and holes were ripped into his elbow and the sleeve covering it. Blood stained the battered part of his sleeve that wasn’t completely torn from the rocks that cut into his skin like thumbtacks. Moving his arm up and down caused the cuts to sting worse than they already were, a wince and gritting of his teeth followed every time he moved it.

Suddenly, Rarity walked up to the man with a horrified expression on her face, one that Levi was all too familiar with from the ponies. She spun him around rather aggressively and her jaw dropped and a loud gasp escaped her, “Levi darling! You’re shirt!” she exclaimed in anguish. Levi felt slightly annoyed at where her priorities laid, more concerned about his torn shirt than his injuries. He gave her some slack however, taking into account where she lived and where she worked, she probably treat clothes like there her children in private.

She took one of the long ripped pieces of fabric in her hoof and looked at it in disbelief. “Once we get back to the boutique, you’re my number one priority!” She added enthusiastically, probably caring more about the way he looked and not how he just narrowly died just seconds before.

Levi seemingly ignored her comments about his shirt and turned around and looked at the rainbow haired pegasus deep in her magenta eyes. Her forehead glistened with sweat and her chest rose high before sinking low trying to catch her breath. Rainbow cocked her head up at Levi and before she could say anything, he wrapped his arms around her in a tight embrace. He felt overcome with emotion and felt a lump form in the back of his throat, his lip quivering as he tried to keep his emotions under control and not wanting to break down in front of the ponies.

After a few awkwards seconds of Rainbow holding her hooves out to her side in surprise, she wrapped her hooves around his waist and let a smile form on her face as she pressed the side of her face to his waist. He sniffled as he gently pressed his hand to the back of her head, his fingers relishing the softness of her multicolored mane. 

“Thank you..” He choked out just loud enough for her and only her to hear.

“I’m happy I could help” She replied with her raspy voice at the same level as him. 

Levi mirrored the pegasus’s smile as he looked down at her, a feeling he couldn’t really describe igniting in his heart at that very second, a feeling he could only describe as the need to protect Rainbow. Keep her out of harm’s way, rush to save her whenever she’s in danger exactly like she did for Levi. Deep inside, he felt a special connection to the rainbow haired pony. Like they were preordained in some way shape or form to meet, and they finally did. They released each other after a short time with Levi turning his head around to face the path all of the ponies were now facing. A dark dirt path similar to the one they entered but the light brown coarse dirt was replaced by a dark brown rich colored dirt that ran deep into the woods. 

As much as he dreaded the thought of going into the forest even more now after the sliding incident, he knew he had to. And with a deep breath and dusting off his forearms, he stood high as he walked bravely with the ponies in sync. He was ready for any danger that might come up. The Elements of Harmony were as good as there’s. Nightmare Moon’s reign of terror was going to end without a shadow of a doubt.

The group followed the dark path as the same twisty and sickly green trees formed walls on either side of them. The only sound to be heard amongst the ponies was Rainbow Dash’s loud reenactment of the event that just transpired, much to the displeasure of Twilight who was right next to the pegasus as she yelled. 

“And once Pinkie and Rarity were safe, WOOSH!” Her raspy excited voice exclaimed as she flew up in the air and back down again next to Twilight to emphasize the ‘Woosh’. 

“And Fluttershy did the loopty loop around,” She stuck her wings out to her sides and did a loopty loop in the air above Twilight and landed next to her with an audible “Wam!”. “Caught you right in the nick of time” She added with a grin.

“Yes Rainbow I was there,” Twilight replied, the visible displeasure on her face disappearing for a second when she looked at the pegasus, but immediately formed again once she looked away. “And I’m very grateful-” Her sentence was interrupted sharply and she let out a loud gasp as a thump was heard in front of them, the ponies behind them jumped in surprise including Levi.

Standing in front of them with an angry expression on his feline face, a red and peach colored manticore, staring daggers into the group with its menacing black pinpoint eyes. His scorpion tail showed itself from behind him as he raised it in the air, simultaneously unfurling his red leathery dragon wings and spiking them high in the air. 

Twilight’s face turned from one of her usual displeasure to one of fright in a split second. “A manticore!” The beast let out a loud roar as it stood on its hind legs and raised its paws in above his head, his razor sharp claws extended from his fingertips. As Levi jumped in fright, he felt a small object bounce in his back pocket, something he didn’t notice before. In the midst of the chaos, he reached behind him and stuck his hand in his pocket and his fingers wrapped around a familiar feeling rough handle. His hand emerged from under the flaps of his shirt and in his hand was a black switchblade, the very same one he used to wound the Timberwolf days ago. 

He flipped the handle in his hand and charged in between the ponies and stood in front of them, creating a divider between the ravenous animal in front of them and his friends. Shink! Levi pressed down the button in the middle of the handle, the blade shooting out of the front and reflecting the stars that shone above it. He furrowed his eyebrows at the manticore as he readied himself in a fighting stance, digging his back foot into the dirt and preparing to lunge at the creature at a moments notice.

“We gotta get past him!” Twilight proclaimed right as Fluttershy bounced in the air and began to hover a few feet above the group. 

“Oh no..” Fluttershy whispered to herself, looking down on the group with worried eyes and especially Levi. She knew for certain that he didn’t truly know what a manticore was capable of, she was terrified of the concept of him seeing what it could do first hand in the worst way possible. A scenario that was about to come through as the beast fell back down onto its front paws and readied his body to pounce.

Another ear piercing roar cut through the air as the manticore pounced in the air towards Levi as he looked up in shock before adrenaline surged through his veins. The creature fell down towards him with his paw extended ready to attack, and that’s exactly what it did.

Its paw swung quickly at Levi the moment he landed in front of him. The man bounced back and successfully dodged the attack and clenched his jaw as he moved his arm back and swiped it across the beast's face. 

The manticore let out a loud grunt of pain and jumped back away from him as the knife cut into the upper part of the bridge of his nose, a crimson line forming as the beast stared down Levi. A fiery anger ignited inside of him like a bonfire as he lunged forward, landing inches in front of the man, and roared directly into his face. His face was misted with the creature's saliva and his hat blew right off of his head only to be caught by Applejack. His putrid breath invaded his nostrils, reeking of the stench of death and blood. 

Levi quickly recovered and swung his knife at the animal once more, but this time he wasn’t so lucky. Before he could react, the animal swung the back of his paw at the unsuspecting man, sending him flying back feet behind him as he skid against the dirt. The branches and twigs dotting the path snapped against his force as he slid on the ground and bulldozed through him. His palm naturally opened as his arm laid limply on the ground, the slightly bloody switchblade sat motionless in the palm of his hand. 

The beast let out a triumphant roar, immediately charging at the man laying on the ground, who lifted his head up to look at the oncoming beast in a daze. Through his blurry vision, he could see the manticore suddenly stopped in his tracks as he could barely make out the orange blur mounting the animal. He looked up at the orange pony on top of him with a curious look, only to be met by the emerald eyes of an excited blonde pony looking down at him.

“Yeehaw!” She bellowed as she grabbed ahold of the manticores maroon mane. In disbelief, Levi managed to watch as Applejack began to ride the manticore like how someone would ride a mechanical bull. The manticore did exactly what a bull would do, kicking its back legs angrily and jumping up feet into the air and landing loudly back down. As his vision slowly came back to him, he saw as the yellow and red beast came down onto the ground just inches away from his head, his massive paw hitting the ground and causing dust to rise around the impact.

Right after, he saw a lilac unicorn approaching him on the ground and she extended a helping hoof towards him. “Get up Levi,” He grabbed her hoof eagerly as she helped pull him up with a struggle, immediately almost falling over the second he stood on his own two feet.

“That was-” THUMP! Levi jerked back as heard the loud pounding of paws landing on the ground next to him. “Is this gonna work?” Levi asked, slightly yelling over the noise the beast was producing.

After it the beast landed for the last time, coincidentally right where he stood when Applejack mounted him, he moved his head down and then whipped it back up with a roar. Applejack went flying off the head of the beast and soared through the air and passed Rainbow Dash just as she was about to descend. “There’s your answer” Twilight exclaimed in response.

“All yours partner” She said to the rainbow haired pegasus hovering in the air, immediately falling to the ground like a torpedo after saying this.

“I’m on it!” She replied with a salute, zooming towards the animal without a second thought in her mind.

“Wait!” Fluttershy called out in vain as the pegasus sped past her, blowing her mane the opposite direction as she threw her hoof in front of her face instinctively.

Rainbow flew to the creature and began flying in circles around in a rainbow tornado, the only thing visible behind the array of colors were the tips of his wings and tail as they spiked up in the air. The manticore growled and roared in annoyance as the pegasus flew around and around him, stopping not even being a thought on her mind at that moment.

With one forceful tail whip, the cyan pegasus was thrown from her rainbow tornado and flew through the air towards them. “RAINBOW!” Twilight cried out as her eyes followed her rainbow haired friend through the air. She eventually came down and skidded to a stop right in front of the ponies, looking up at them and meeting their shocked eyes with her magenta ones. Her wings were upright but her feathers were ruffled and the tip of her left wing looked bent out of place.

Levi extended his free hand down to the pegasus who gladly accepted it and pulled herself up from the ground. Twilight looked furiously at the beast with gritted teeth, leaning her body forward slightly ready to run. The beast mirrored her movements and leaned forward further than her as he stuck his tail high in the air, the stinger looming over his back and staring at the ponies. 

The group all scraped their hoof against the ground and kicked up dust, all Levi could was bend his knees and look alive as he flipped his blade a few times in his hand. He grinned in anticipation at the manticore as he waited for the ponies to charge the angry beast, watching as blood from his wound trickled down the bridge of his nose as he huffed. Twilight huffed as she narrowed her eyes and in that moment began to charge like an angry bull towards the manticore.

The rest of the group almost instantly followed suit, sprinting in formation towards the manticore who stood high and mighty, ready to attack the ponies. Levi flipped the handle into a stabbing position, the blade pointed behind him as he sprinted and passed the rest of the ponies excluding Rainbow. 

Out of nowhere, a usually quiet yellow pegasus suddenly jumped in the middle of the manticore and the squadron of angry ponies. They all skidded to a stop and looked at surprised at Fluttershy as she folded her wings back to her side, especially Levi, who had only known the quiet side of Fluttershy up to this point. Her face returned to a usual soft smile as she turned to face the manticore and began walking towards it, Levi’s eyes widened at the ignorant decision being displayed in front of him. 

“Fluttershy!” He exclaimed as his voice echoed through the trees, “What’re you doing!” He received no response from the pink haired pegasus, only hearing the manticore's short roar at the oblivious pegasus approaching him. 

When she got close enough to be able to touch the creature, it raised its paw high above his head with his claws extended in full view as he let out another short but loud roar. The ponies all veered their heads away and shut their eyes tightly, including Levi, who pointed his head straight at the ground as he tensed up. 

“Shhhh, shhh..it’s okay” The ponies popped their eyes open one after another after hearing her soft voice coo to the beast. She rubbed her nose gingerly on the manticore’s paw that was held up in the air limp. He backed his hand away from her touch as she gave him a reassuring smile, reaching his limp hand up and looking at it for a few seconds before flipping it over. He revealed a purple thorn sticking out of the center of his palm as he brought it to Fluttershy, the group of ponies no longer tense but curiously watching the encounter.

“Oh you poor poor little baby..” She cooed once more, eyeing the thorn sympathetically. 

“Little?” Rainbow Dash questioned aloud.

“Now this just might hurt for just a second..” She edged her mouth up to the thorn and bit down on the top of it. And with one hard tug, yanked the thorn from his palm with a satisfying popping sound. The beast grabbed Fluttershy aggressively and reared as he let out a booming roar straight into her face, her mane blowing back in the wind like she was inside a hurricane. 

“FLUTTERSHY!” The group shouted collectively, but their worry died when they saw the manticore happily licking the pegasus's mane affectionately. Fluttershy giggled as he held her in her paw like a toy and said in a hushed voice “Aww..you’re just a little kitty..yes you are”

As Fluttershy continued to praise the manticore, the ponies let a grin form on their faces as they trotted past the manticore that once stood as an obstacle. Levi retracted the blade back in the handle with another Shink! He stuck it back in his back pocket as he caught up with the rest of the ponies, sticking next to Twilight while the rest walked ahead.

Eventually, the manticore released Fluttershy and she started walking up to the group of ponies ahead. Her one flowing swooping mane was now slicked back with the creature's saliva, completely straight back like a pink surfboard on the top of her head. Levi couldn’t help but snicker at how ridiculous she looked.

“How did you know about the thorn?” Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I didn’t, sometimes all you need is a little kindness” She answered in her normal soft tone, walking ahead of Twilight a little faster after her answer was given. Twilight looked down for a second in thought and looked back up as a grin formed on her face.

“You did good back there,” Twilight said as she looked up to make eye contact with Levi, “I didn’t expect that from you”

“Me either” He admitted with a smirk, “I kinda forgot I had that, guess it saved my ass..mostly” 

Twilight giggle before responding “I hope you have more tricks up your sleeve” 

“Just you wait and see” He joked, reaching down and giving her a light pat on the back before adding “Come on, we gotta catch up”

“Wait up!” Levi called out as they moved in unison further and further down the dank path. As the manticore unfurled his wings and flew off into the night sky, the thorn that rested on the ground suddenly came to life and began spinning rapidly. It spinned until it melted into a sparkling blue and black mass that floated with a mind of its own. The mass reared its front towards the path the ponies just walked down and began soaring through the air chasing after them. Doing everything it can to stop the ponies..at all costs.